ABOUT THE COVE RS

F RONT COVE R show s the stone erected 1 935 by the Fort Wayne Optimist Club over the supposed A grave sit e of John Chapm an in the rcher Cem etery .

THE BA C K COVER show s the stone erected by S a Wes ley . Roebuck over the suppo sed gr ve site of

John Chapm an on the Roebuck farm . Joh nny A p p leseed : Th e M an

B ehind Th e M yth

Steven F or tr i ed e

F or t W ayn e Public Libra ry 1 97 8

CONTENTS

I . Early Year s

II Th e . Ohio Frontier

III T h e . Sw edenborgian Mi s sionary

IV i n the . Myths Making

V tw to . W es ard Indiana

and VI . Death Burial

Notes and References

Appendix

A C KNOW LEDGMENT

The author recognize s hi s debt to

Dr . Robert Price , who se many years ub of careful research and study , p l i sh ed in Johnny Apple seed , Man —and In di an a 1 54 Myth ( University Pre s s , 9 7 gui ded and aided th e preparation of thi s h pamp let .

FOREWORD

' John Chapm an was on e of Am erica s authentic pioneer heroes , a contemporary of men such a s ni H Da el Boone and Davy Crockett . e planted hi s fir st apple s eed s a s a b oy about the time Washington wa s elected Pre sident and hi s last a s an ol d man about the H tim e Lincoln wa s elected to Congres s . e m oved into Ohio before Secretary of State Jame s Monroe bought

Louisiana from the F rench . By the tim e he died in 1 84 5 nn Indiana in , Texa s had been a exed , the frontier had pushed acro s s the Mis si s sippi , and , out in Cali for n i a , Captain John Sutter had built his for t and wa s i looking around for a likely location for a sawm ll .

Yet , m o st people know le s s fact and more myth about John Chapm an than about any other character in n A merican hi story . Some thi k he wa s only a story or a folk tale ; the rest , if they know him at all , know him as Johnny Appleseed . This pamphlet present s som e of the fact s about ' n on Joh Chapm an . It is prim arily based Robert Price s t book Johnny Apple seed , Man and My h , publi shed in 4 1 95 . In this pamphlet some of the m yths and storie s which sprang up around this fron to tiersman . W e will try to trace the stories back their source s to show where they originated , how they developed into myths , and how they have been " pe r petuated a s fact s in the Johnny Apple seed story . ol d of Som e of the se stories are very . Many them w ere first told around the hearths and campfire s of n the earlie st settlers of Ohio , even while John y wa s B still alive . y the tim e they came to be written down , the m em orie s of the original storyteller s had becom e to a bit hazy , and their im aginations had begun fill in the m is sing details .

I . EA RLY YEA RS

The storytellers , generally have Johnny born

C onn ecti cut or Pe nn s l som ewhere in Mas sachusett s , , y vania . More than a dozen places claim hi s birth ; in 1 76 8 or 1 774 1 775 1 787 , , or , or , but alm o st always

. t in the spring of the year Every story eller , tryi ng ' of to find som e portent the new baby s future fam e , m entions the beautiful apple blo s som s which gar b landed hi s irth . In som e versions the wind blow s the boughs against the window of the nursery ; som e time s the baby John reaches for the branches out side the window , and som etim e s the blos som s are a bouquet picked by a loving husband to grace the bedside of a beloved w ife . A lways there are apple blo s som s .

John Chapman wa s actually born in Leom inster , 1 ' on 26 1 774 Mas sachusett s September , . There wasn t ni an apple blo s som in sight . Hi s father , Natha el

Chapman , wa s a farmer and carpenter , but he wa s apparently no great succe s s at either trade . The Chapmans lived in a small rented hous e in Leom inster

The house ha s long since disappeared , although the sight was m arked in 1 94 0 by the Leom inster Bi c e nten 2 of nial Comm ittee . Soon after the birth the baby John ,

Nathani el Chapm an enli sted in the Continental A rmy .

H e was on e of the original Minutem en , fought at

Bunker Hill , suffered through the winter at Valley F orge , and wa s eventually discharged from the s ervice because of som e que stion regarding m is 3 to m anagement of m ilitary store s entrusted hi s care . ' John s m other w a s Elizabeth Sim onds , al so of o Leom inster , a frail wom an who se s ldier husband left her to m anage the household and care for the infant John and his older sister , al so nam ed Elizabeth . 1 8 1 776 Elizabeth Chapm an , the mother , died July , , t shortly af er delivering her third child , a boy nam ed 4 Nathaniel who also died w ithin a few w eeks . W e do not know what happened to the tw o young

Chapman children , Elizabeth only six and John not yet tw o , but they probably stayed with relatives in the area . Both the Chapman and Sim onds families had long been established in Leom inster , and there w ere m any aunt s and cousins nearby . 1 780 In July , Nathaniel w as married again , thi s 5 to tim e Lucy Cooley of Longm eadow , where he took In - up residence . the next twenty two ear s , ten children w ere born to Nathaniel and Luc The little 1 780 fram e house , already old in but still standing 1 50 in 9 , rapidly grew so crowded that the oldest boy m ight w ell have been encouraged to leave hom e a s soon as he could m ake hi s w ay in the world . ' n I deed , the details of young John s life up until 1 7 79 are completely lo st , except to the imaginations t of the story eller s . Perhaps the m o st persi stent story from thi s period i s that John attended Harvard

College , graduating w ith honor s , according to som e sources . Thi s myth apparently had it s origin in a purely fictional novel entitled The "uest of John Chapman , 1 04 ' publi shed in 9 . This story m ake s John s father a Mas sachusett s cleric and John him s elf a m ini sterial student at Harvard . The Harvard story wa s retold i and som e quite serious biographers , perhap s try ng ' to account for Johnny s rem arkable intelligence and of i understanding relig ous doctrine s , seized on it and perpetuated it as fact . The fact i s that a c on si d e r abl e am ount of searching over the year s ha s failed to turn up any record of Johnny a s a student at 7 Harvard . The "ue st of John Chapm an also provides an example of another recurring them e in the Johnn y

Appleseed myth , the lost love . Even the earlie st of the written recollections , som e s et down only ten or fifteen year s after hi s death , contain vague allusions un o to an happy love affair . None f the se can be docu m ented . It m ay be that the real source for the storie s i s the de sire of the storytellers to account for the eccentricities of a strange old bachelor . In any case , the form of the story which i s m ost widely told is exemplified in The "uest : Johnny love s on e Dorothy - a Durand , but their two fam ilie s are bitter enemie s difference of theological Opinions - and the lovers are separated . The Durands m ove w est and Johnny set s H e out to search for hi s beloved . finally locate s the family only to learn that Dorothy has died shortly before of a broken heart . Other authors follow the of sam e sequence of event s , but change the nam e the of girl . Henry Pershing , in his purported biography

h l i sh ed in 1 930 , called her Sara Crawford and had he r reunited with Johnny but dying on their wedding day . The se stories all clo se by a s serting that , m any

n to year s later , John y returned plant apple blo s som s over the grave . ' The detailed record of John Chapman s activitie s a s a youn g man i s yet to be di scovered , but the general trend of hi s young life can be inferred . Som etim e before 1 7 97 Johnn y learned to read and write

H e very w ell . learned som ething about the culture H e h ow to and propagation of fruit trees . learned H e em braced the religious doctrine s of Emanuel

Swedenborg . Som e early stories say that Johnny w as app r en ticed to an orchardi st or that he spent several year s around 1 790 working as a Sw edenborgian mis sionary along the Potomac River . Thes e tales m ay have som e ' basi s in fact , but Henry Per shing s story that John wa s certified a m ini ster at the Conf erence of the Sweden n 7 6 b or gi a Church in Bo ston in 1 8 is pure bunk . The first General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the

United State s of A m erica w a s not held until May , 7 8 1 81 , by which tim e John wa s a w idely known and n 1 7 86 respected Sw ede borgian . In he would have been tw elve year s old , too young for even the m o st preco m i si on ar i n cion s s y g . Many stories relate different versions of John 's n ur ser m an b ut beginnings as an itinerant y , the earliest reasonably reliable account brings John on stage in the m iddle of a freak snow storm s om ewhere in the wild w e stern w ilderne s s of Pennsylvania in Octo 1 7 7 on ber 9 , his way to the new town of Warren which then consi sted of a single log building . This account

9 ' 853 Lan si n W etm or e was written in 1 by Judge g . It is

- apparently not based on fir st hand evidence , a s 1 81 5 Judge W etm ore did not com e into the area until , but the judge di d draw on the m em orie s of the earlier resident s and he him sel f saw the remains of one ' o f Johnny s early nurserie s . W etm ore , who wa s interested in recording many aspect s of the early history of the Warren area , seem s to have kept ur th er clos ely to the verifiable truth . F evidence that Judge W etm ore was hone stly recording local hi story and not m erely seeking to appropriate som e of the glory of the Apple seed legend , a s did so m any later " w rit ers , i s that he never once used the nam e Johnny

Apple seed . Either he had never heard of the nick nam e or he never connected it with the John Chapman who planted apples in Warren .

The only hard ; that i s documentary , evidence ' which might confirm Johnny s presence in the Warren , Pennsylvania area i s the ledger of a nearby trading po st which show s several entries for a John Chapman 1 0 1 7 98 . n o around the year There i s , however , definite proof that thi s w as the sam e John Chapman who becam e known a s Johnny Appleseed . n ot n Johnny did stay lo g in the Warren area . ' Judge Wetmore s narrative conclude s , The dem and r u to for f it t ree s being lim ited , and unable obtain a to n livelihood by his favorite pursuit , he went F ra klin where he e stabli shed another nursery . It i s at Franklin about 1 800 that historians are first able to document and chronicle the activities of

John Chapm an . His nam e appear s several time s in H e 1 800 trading po st ledgers . show s up in the census Ven a o 1 801 of g County , actually completed in April , , living alone in Irw in Township a few miles southwe st 1 1 o of n . 1 804 nk tw Fra klin In , at Fra lin , John signed ' O on e on e of I U s, each for hundred dollar s ; in favor the children of Elizabeth Rudd , his si ster ; and the " other in favor of Nathaniel Chapman although it i s not clear whether the Nathaniel referred to was John 's — 1 2 father or hi s half brother also called Nathaniel . n This second note , to Natha iel , contains the ' first docum entary evidence of John s intere st in apple to tree s . It reads , in part , I prom ise pay Nathaniel Chapman the sum of on e hundred dollars in land or apple tree s .

Num erous stories , including som e serious biographie s , place John in Pitt sburgh during the late l 7 90s Frequently they have him working in the boat yard s building the flatboat s used by early m igrant s . There m ay be a grain of fact behind some of these ' 1 7 90s, storie s . John s whereabout s in the early from ' the tim e he left hi s father s home in Longm eadow until hi s appearance in that m ountain snow storm near

1 7 7 n n . H e War ren in 9 , are totally u k own m ay very b w ell have been t raveling in the Pitt s urgh area , u although it i s doubtf l that he held a steady job there . One piece of docum entary evidence which m ight place 1 7 4 John in the Pitt sburgh area does exi st . In 9 , a John Chapman (no provable conn ection) took an oath of allegiance to the new United States in Somers et t Township , Washing on County , a few miles southwe st 1 3 s ur h of Pitt b g .

The full developm ent of the Pitt sburgh story , ' which has Johnn y run ning a sort of travelers aid r station for m igrant s in the city of Pitt sbu gh , and incidentally handing out little leather bags of apple seed s to the new s ettler s , can be traced to a novel titled Johnny Apple seed , the Rom anc e of the Sower , 1 1 5 written in 9 by Mr s . Eleanor Atkinson . The b b Rom ance w as another purely fictional ook , ut like n so m any other stories , it contained just e ough logic , an d n hi storical fact , co vincing detail that it wa s widely accepted as the whole truth and nothing but the u tr th . No deed or other record of land owned by Johnny 1 4 n n in Pen sylva ia has yet been found . It i s probable that John never succeeded in establishing title to any nn Pe sylvania land , so it i s almo st impo s sible to trace the locations of the early nurseries . Early county b 1 on e b hi storie s relia ly ocate orchard , po s si ly hi s Br oken str a n first , on Big w Creek in W arren Cou ty and another on F rench Creek near the town of F ranklin Ven a o n in g Cou ty . Both of the se nurserie s were in Operation during the period roughly from 1 7 97 or 1 7 8 1 804 9 to . Les s reliable sources and local tradi tions tell of other nurserie s scatt ered aroun d the general area . John s eem s to have located hi s nur series near the m ain settlem ent route s and then traveled from one to another to care for the tree s

6

m ore bushels into apple butter . Apple cider by the

barrel , one source estim ate s seven to ten barrels or 250 1 8 gallons for a large family , wa s pre s sed at

community cider m ills . Many more barrel s of cider w ere di stilled into apple brandy , called applej ack

on the frontier . Applej ack had the virtue of com m anding a much higher price in relat ion to it s w eight and bulk than almo st any other product grown in the w est , a fact which m ade it an important cash crop for expo r t in the da s when all transport w as prim itive 1 y So and expensive . important wa s apple growing

considered that in som e part s of Ohio , a new settler i w a s requ red to plant a certain number of t ree s , fifty

or m ore , before he could receive the full title to hi s 20 land . W ith a guaranteed market and an ever - growing

num ber of custom er s , m any nurs erym en w ere drawn to the new state of Ohio . John Chapman was by no m eans the only s eller of apple tree s in the new terri B 1 7 6 tory ; he was not even the fir st . y 9 , Rufus Putnam had an extensive orchard consi sting of m any varietie s

- 2 1 of . high quality , grafted tree s located near Marietta 1 808 t In , Washing on County , around Marietta , counted 7 74 acre s of fruit tree s . ' Nor were Johnny s apple tree s of the be st quality . Johnny steadfastly refused to improve any of hi s tree s by grafting good quality branche s onto the seedling

- root s , a comm on and w ell know n practice even on the n frontier . Instead , John insi sted on grow i g hi s tree s

strictly from seed , even though he must have know n that tree s grown in thi s m anner w ill alm o st ce rt ainly produce inferior fruit The advantage s that Johnny enjoyed over hi s

competition w ere two ; volum e , and a sense of loca

tion , what Robert Price called strategic geog "22 r a h p y . No other orchardi st planted a s many

nurserie s as did John , and no other orchardist located hi s nurseries so carefully , always just ahead of the first settler s in an area and frequently Just where a u new center of population would spring p . The li st of Johnny 's verified nur series in Ohio

, o i s long and there i s hardly a city , town , r country cro s sroad s throughout central Ohio that doe s n ot claim in it s local traditions that "Johnny Apple seed

. of planted trees here In hi s biography Chapman ,

Price li sted in Ohio alone , thirty nurserie s for which on e he could locate at lea st reliable early reference . u The se were establi shed n r series , usually Operated of over a period several year s , and given regular care . It also appears that Johnny wa s in the habit of m aking other plantings wherever he happened to be in his wanderings , perhap s at the home of a farmer w h o gave him lodging for the night or simply in a natural clearing in the w oods , no m atter w h o owned the land .

to us Judging from the records available , it wa s ' apparently John s practice to scout a likely location o for a nursery and then to beg , buy , or lease a plot f H e ground on which to plant hi s tree s . would clear to the ground , prepare the soil , erect a fence keep n out brow si g cattle and deer , and plant hi s seed s , carefully gathered from cider mills in the m ore as to settled area s he had just left . If the nursery w be a maj or one , Johnny frequently w ould build a lean - to or rough cabin to provide him self with shelter o or w oul d arrange t board with a nearby farmer . Som e idea of the tim e involved may be deduced ' from a bill for boarding submitted to John s adm i ni s o 1 836 tr at r s after hi s death . In , Johnny bought - of i seventy four acre s land in Waba sh Townsh p , for Jay County , Indiana . The next year John boarded twelve w eeks with Jo seph Hill w h o lived near thi s 8 1 839 land . In 1 83 , he stayed eighteen weeks and in , 1 84 0 fol l ow m ten weeks . In , and for the years g

9 tw o up until hi s death , he stayed only , three , or four 2 3 w eeks . Pre sum ably , the s e fir st three year s were taken up in the maj or labor of e stablishing the nur sery after which it required only periodic care and m ain n an e te c . Mo st likely thi s patt ern w as repeated tim e

and again at other nursery locations . Except for two town lot s purcha sed in 1 809 in - u newly platt ed Mo nt Vernon , no record exi st s that John form ally obtained title to any land during hi s 1 81 4 early days in Ohio . It is probable that , up until 1 81 5 or , John was concentrating on planting hi s tree s on land already owned by other farmers who could be relied on to watch over the t ree s in return for a of - share the new grown s eedlings . O n 3 1 1 81 4 May , , John changed his m ethod of Operations and began the first of a serie s of sixteen o verifiable land acqui sitions . Eventually he b ught or leas ed and som etim e s forfeited or sold more than of eleven hundred acre s land and six town lot s , i i of som et m e s pay ng w ith the prom i se apple tree s , but m ore often paying cash in hand . Despite the custom of ary portrayal him a s a m an living in poverty , nl eating o y the m o st m eager food , and w earing ragged

clothing , John wa s a m an of considerable substance , specially in rare ready ca sh ; although he used hi s for w ealth charity and to further hi s work , not for hi s ow n per sonal comfort 1 806 In Cincinnati market s in , the price of a seedling apple tree hovered betw een six and seven 24 cent s , which seem s to support the price which " Johnny traditionally charged for hi s t ree s , a fip " penny bit which w as w orth about six and on e - half 25 cent s in Ohio at that tim e . The se same traditions

also insist that , if the purcha ser was unable t o pay in

- cash , Johnny would willingly accept cast off clothing , of nm a bit cor eal , or even a promi se to pay at som e H e unspecified tim e in the future . wa s reported to

1 0 to have given tree s needy fam ilie s , often with a gift of m oney a s w ell . ' Several docum ent s pertaining to Johnny s busi

to u s A n ne s s dealings have com e down . order for tree s from one of hi s nur serie s wa s di scovered in 52 o 1 9 f . of in the po s ses sion Mrs Grace Culler Shiloh ,

Ohio , a niece of the Ro sella Rice who se recollections 26 to t of John have added so much the Appleseed m y h . 2 1 1 81 8 The order , dated August , , at Richland County , i s obviously addre s sed to the caretaker at on e of ' "

. M r Johnny s nurs eries It reads , . Martin Mason: or Sir , pleas e to let Eben Rice bearer have thirty ou i eight apple tree s and y will obl ge your friend . n ow John Chapm an . A nother order , in the po s ses sion 1 81 2 of the Mansfield Boy Scout s , i s dated October , , F or to and read s in part , value received I promi se on e t pay Benjamin Burrell , hundred and fif y apple tree s at my nur sery near John Butlers and the o m outh f the Mohican , such as they are when called 25 1 820 for . A not e dated August , , reads simply , " to M r . Odle : please let Ebenezer Rice have the

. h 0 0 p s . Nobody know s what it might have m eant

Note s and orders such as the se , along with a number r o of lease s , deeds , tax records , and voter s list s p vide the fram ew ork of fact s upon which that which i s ' definitely kn own about Johnny s activities ha s been built

N III . THE SWEDE BORGIA N MISSIONA RY

Mo st people today rem ember John Chapm an only ow n for hi s app l e se ed s and 11 1 8 charity . In his tim e , but throughout hi s adult life , he wa s a follower of the beliefs of Em anuel Sw edenborg . Sw edenborg wa s a brilliant eighteenth- century scienti st and philo sopher who se inve stigations led him to believe in a spiritual w orld clo sely paralleling the real one , a w orld in which each per son had a corre sponding spiritual ex i sten ce t which continued af er hi s death . Swedenborg also taught that the way to happine s s in the spiritual w orld w as to live a life of service and self - denial in 27 on e this . The doctrine s were complicated and the religion w a s one which appealed mainly to i nte l l ec l s tua . It i s w ell know n that John lived hi s life i n o accordance with the se teachings , but it i s not kn wn when he fir st accepted them Consequently , the story of hi s conver sion to Swedenb orgiani sm has become a favorite one for imaginative storyteller s . Henry Pershing w rote that John first becam e acquainted with ' Swedenborg s teachings during tho se m ythical year s at Harvard . Mr s . Atkinson had him introduced to the doctrine s during a vi sit to Isle l e Beau where Harman l e n n e r ha sset B lived in kingly splendor . A long standing , but still unproven , tradition in the Sweden ' b or gi an Church state s that John s fir st co ntact with the teachings was through Judge John Young , a w e stern Pennsylvania lawyer and m ember of the Church of the

New Jerusalem . Thi s tradition also claim s that Judge Young supplied Johnny w ith m any of the books he later di stributed in the We st . Perhap s the only provably accurate statem ent which we can m ake about John 's conversion i s that it i s not known when or how it took place but that it wa s certainly very early in hi s career . Other details of John 's m i s sionary work can be m ore definitely e stablished . In fact , the earlie st printed reference to John Chapm an yet discovered appears in a New Church report printed in January ,

1 2

l 2 8 1 7 . 1 8 , in Manche ster , Eng and The account , taken from a letter from a Philadelphia corre spondant , doe s

not m ention John by nam e . However , it give s detail s

of hi s ascetic life , de scribe s hi s planting m ethod s , " and says , the profit s of the whole are intended for the purpo se of enabling him to print all of the writings

of Emanuel Swedenborg and di stribute them . Thi s ' report also contains the fir st m ention of John s p r ac tice of dividing a book into par t s for greater di str i

b uti on . Num erous letter s written by New Church m em 1 5 1 82 1 ber s m ention John . One , dated May , , from 2 9 T h un n to Daniel Margaret Bailey , m entions an offer by John Chapm an to deed to the New Church 1 6 0 acre s m nt of land in return for pay e in New Church books , e then state s , This is the Appl seed m an you certainly of must have heard A nother letter , this one written 30 by William Schlatter , a w ealthy and prom inent 1 8 1 822 New Church supporter , dated November , , contains the earlie st written m ention of John 's nick " e nam e . It reads , in part , ther w as but one receiver M r and that w as . John Chapm an , whom you must have of heard m e speak . They call him John Apple seed an n out there . Thi s letter , and entry u der the nam e " John Apple seed in the ledger of the F ort Wayn e of 1 84 0 trading firm Hamilton and Taber in , e stabli sh the nam e by which John Chapm an was known during " i m o st of hi s life . The dim inut ve , Johnny Apple seed apparently becam e used as the legends about him

grew and flowered . John wa s apparently a very active m i s sionary

for the New Church . Num erous tale s and m em oir s tell of hi s capable and intelligent di scus sion of the doctrine s of Sw edenbo rg and m any of them m ention u specific instance s of theological arg m ent s , m o st of

which , of cour se , Johnny w on hand s dow n .

In at lea st one docum ented instance , John appear s

1 4

1 850s child . Throughout the , Ro sella published num erous letter s and m agazine article s containing of her rom anticized recollections Johnny . The m o st w idely circulated and still the m o st famous account of D Johnny appeared in an article written by W . Haley ' 1 in Harper s New Monthly Magazine in November 1 87 . A ll three of the se account s collected the storie s ' n popular in the year s after Joh ny s death . The storie s w ere repeated as fact over and over in the m any county

and local historie s published in the ensuing year s . un Here wa s the small , wiry m an with the b shaven eard and penetrating eye s ; the ragged , ca st off clothing ; and the pa steboard hat with the huge 32 brim . The tin pot hat s eem s to have been purely a 33 Th e o o nn fabrication by Henry How e . picture f J h y

variously suppo sed to have been draw n by a student at Otterbein College who knew Johnn y or from a

1 6 de scription given by Ro sella Rice . Other storie s told of the m an filled with rem or se for having killed a rattle snake which had bitten him ; the man w h o w ould quench hi s campfire to prevent a mos quito from being burned ; the m an who w ould sleep in the snow to avoid di sturbing a sleeping bear and her cubs . Here were the storie s of matrim onial di sappointm ent s and of the m an who brought gifts of calico and ribbons to ' of n delight the little girls . Am ong the tales John y s of h ow philanthropy and kindne s s , w as the story , out of a mi sguided belief in the healing properties of - d o - nn the evil sm elling weed called g fe el , Johnny sow ed it s seeds in the vicinity of every cabin he

of W D . to pa s sed until , in the words . Haley , this day the dog - fenne1 i s on e of the w or st grievance s of the Ohio farm ers Many of the se stories are probably based on fact . Som e of them are attributed to early pioneer s who claim ed to have heard them directly from

Johnny . Other s can be documented from independent source s . A story which m ay contain m ore fact than fiction de scribe s John 's role during the Indian unrest of

1 81 2 . That summ er , after war wa s declared with of England , there w ere a number Indian attacks and - n scare s in the Mansfield Mount Vernon area . John y , who knew the fore st trails better than anyone else , either volunteered or wa s retained to travel to the outlying cabins to keep the settlers w arned of Indian

on e , activitie s . A fter at least fal se alarm a real

Indian attack took place 1 I1 September at Mansfield . The ten white fam ilie s in the area imm ediately retreated to the blockhouse and decided to send for

. help to Mount Vernon , thirty mile s away John

Chapm an volunteered to m ake the tr ip . A lthough the earliest account of the event insi st s that Johnny rode 34 hors eback , the story m o st often told i s that John

1 7 ran all the w ay , stopping only to warn i solated settler s " with the cry , the tribe s of the heathen are round about your door s and a devouring flame followeth A t after them . any rate , Johnny m ade the trip and returned with the soldier s early the next m orning . The m o st wide spread of all the Joh nn y A pp l e se ed " folk tales is the so - called prim itive Christian d epi sode . The location , the etail s , and the nam e of the mini ster vary from one account to the next , but the clas sic story goe s something like thi s : Johnny i s am ong the audience li stening to an itinerant m i s sion ary who ha s been serm onizing at considerable length against evil and vice of all sort s . Trying , by con trast , to shame hi s listener s , som e of whom have begun to indulge in the carnal van itie s of calico cloth

- and store bought tea , the m is sionary repeatedly " inquire s of the audience , Where now i s there a man who , like the prim itive Chri stians , i s traveling to Heaven barefooted and clad in coar se raim ent '" "

W D . F inally , in the word s of . Haley , When thi s interrogation had been repeated beyond all rea sonable endurance , Johnny ro s e from the log on which he wa s n l recli ing ; and advancing to the speaker , he p aced on e of hi s bar e feet upon the stump which served for om ti n e a pulpit ; and p g t o hi s coffe sack garm ent , he ' ' quietly said , Here s your prim itive Chri stian . The

- w ell clothed m i s sionary he sitated , stamm ered , and dism i s s ed the congregation . One clue to the identity of thi s mis sionary i s t given in a letter w ri ten by John W . Daw son to the F o r t Wayne Sentinel in re sponse to the artic le in '

. 1 830 Harper s Daw son state s that , in , an itinerant preacher nam ed Adam Payne came to Fo r t Wayne and " proceded to scold the Devil on a dow ntown street " A t corner . the end of the scold , Johnny , who wa s again pre sent , went forward and reminded Payne of the incident at Mansfield . A ccording to Daw son ,

1 8 i Payne recogn zed Johnny at once . If Payne was the ' m ini ster involved , Haley s of him " description a s the "

w ell clothed m is sionary i s singularly inapt . Payne

- wa s another widely known figure on the frontier . H e wa s every bit a s shabby in hi s personal appearance a s w as John .

V W EST . WA RD TO INDIA NA

1 830 Som etim e before , Johnny decided to move hi s base of Operations farther to the w est . Ohio was

rapidly becoming a settled and civilized country , and the market for hi s services wa s moving steadily w e stward Several different date s have been given for Johnny 's first trip through w e stern Ohio and into

Indiana , including som e very early scouting trip s . ' John s first docum ented trip into w e stern Ohio oc 82 8 curred in 1 . Hi s route can be traced by the trail of lease s he left behind a s he acquired small plot s of land for nurserie s ; one at Fort Amanda , another at ' St n o o . Mary s , and a third at what i s w the town f

Rockford . The route suggest s that he may have continued on into F ort Wayne floating down the ' St Rl ve r . Mary s t o the Maum ee and then back down Ot 35 the Maumee into . Working from lease s , deed regi ster s , tax paym ent s , and similar records , Robert Pric e ha s identified a regular yearly cycle of travels starting from Mansfield in the spring and following w e stward along the southern route to care for hi s leased nur serie s , but returning to Mansfield each

A ugust . A lthough the fir st documentary evidence of

1 9 ' Chapman s pre sence in F or t Wayne date s from April 1 834 250 and May , when John paid $ for two parcels 36 n of land along the Maum ee River ea st of F ort Way e , local traditions place him in Fort wayne much earlier 4 8 1 83 . 1 30 than John Daw son gave the year a s . Helm , an early historian of A llen County , said that John arrived in 1 828 and planted a nur sery on the w e st bank of the St J o s eph River north of F ort Wayne . Thi s nurs ery later figured prominently in the di spute over ' o the location f Johnny s grave . Daw son m entioned it in hi s letter but no documentary evidence has ever been found to confirm it s exi stence . Other , le s s reliable report s place the date of the first vi sit a s early a s

In docum ented record s , F ort W ayne appear s a s ' the w e sternm o st point in John s travel s . In legend , Dan i el Boon e however , Johnny vi sited w ith in Kentucky H e e and A braham Lincoln in Illinoi s . planted nur seri s in southern Michigan and sang folk songs in northern

Mi s souri . Robert Price reported a letter from a California w om an seriously claim ing that Johnny planted the fir st orchards in her state . Eben Chapman claim ed that hi s father and Johnny once m ade a trip to

Kansas , tying the tail s of their hor se s together to avoid becoming separated while swimming acro s s the 38 Mi s sis sippi River . The only written hint of a we stern j ourney is contained in a letter to A . Banning Norton of Knox

County , Ohio from a form er re sident then living in i Wh te side s County , Illinoi s . The letter stated that in the fall of 1 84 3 Johnn y Appleseed pas sed through the county on hi s w ay from Iowa to a Swedenborgian 39 Convention in Philadelphia . However , there is no evidence that John was ever in Iowa , and he did not 4 0 attend the Sw edenborgian Convention . B 1 836 y , Johnny had completed hi s m ove from

Mansfield to Fort Wayne . F rom that time on he

20 of considered him self a re sident A llen County , Indi 4 1 H e to ana . continued vi sit in Ohio every s umm er or tw o up until a year before hi s death , keeping up of ol d m any hi s nur serie s and vi siting friends . The i of m o st la sting portra t him as a saintly , white ol d haired , ragged man was developed during the se to so year s and applied the earlier stories , that even in the storie s of hi s early adventures he seem s to 4 2 appear old and w orn . In Indiana John bought five fairly large parcels of land for which record s have been found . Be side s

on the two plot s already mentioned the Maumee , John - ow n shi bought seventy four acre s in Wabash T p , Jay B e l County ; fo rty acre s in River Tow nship , A llen County ; and another eighteen acres on the Maumee 4 3 on e River near of hi s earlier plot s . Of on e the three tract s along the Maum ee , only on on e w a s properly developed , but that plot of forty t o of 1 5 000 tr e e s r ow i n w acre s , John had a nur sery , g g in The only other plot which Johnny i s known on t o have improved wa s the e in Jay County . Johnny on 1 837 him self w orked thi s land starting in , boarding at the tim e with Jo seph Hill . A lso , W illiam Broom , ' P er c i s w h o had m arried John s sister , cleared about of bm l t fifteen acre s land , a log cabin , and hewed tim ' 4f5 l and h er for a barn on Johnny s . Since the Broom s n ow lived nearby , it has been suspected that Johnny , by j‘ 6 to C ount f alm o st seventy , was planning to move Jay y ' b e If thi s wa s Johnny s intention , death claimed him fore he could see it realized .

2 1 VI . DEATH A ND BURIA L

t Not even hi storians , let alone the story eller s , ' can agree on the circum stance s of Johnny s death .

A ccording to the usual story , John was working at a nur sery twenty mile s from Fort Wayn e when word wa s brought that cattle had broken into a nur sery in

A llen County . Johnny imm ediately set off to protect

O n hi s tree s , walking the entire di stance in one day . reaching F ort W ayne , John applied for lodging at the M r r hom e of a . W orth , but overcom e by hi s exe tion s , ni or he died during the ght , , as som e say , after a short illne s s . The date of Johnny 's death can be e stablished 1 34 with reasonable certainty . In 9 hi s obituary notice 22 1 84 5 wa s rediscovered in the March , , edition of the Fo rt Wayne Sentinel by Mis s Eva Peck of the

F ort W ayne Public Library . The obituary read s " - i n on T ue sd a 1 8 in part , Died thi s city y last (March ) M r M c an et On . Thoma s J the sam e day , in thi s M r neighborhood , at an advanced age , . John Chapman o (better kn own by the nam e f Johnny Apple seed . ) ft A er a few laudatory rem arks the notice concluded , " His death wa s quite sudden . We saw him on our o street s only a day or tw previous . The fact that the Sentinel did not give the exact date of death ha s supported the belief that the actual " date wa s the Tue sday la st of the previous w eek , n March 1 1 . However , the Fo rt Way e Tim es and 2 2 People s Pre s s of March , al so ran an obituary , not M c an et of John , but of the Thom a s J referred to by the " - In Sentinel w ith the se word s , Died thi s city on the

1 8th M r M c an et . n . Thoma s J Thi s co firm s that 4 1 8 1 8 5 . John did indeed die on March , The circum stance s of hi s death have not been so neatly confirm ed . Nearly all account s agree that

22

evidence , although Roebuck w as able to prove the exi stence of a Wo rt h family on the ea st bank of the river around 1 84 5 from regi sters of deeds Our ow n inve stigations in preparing this p am ph let have shown that the W orths w ere a large family group , m embers of which lived on both side s of the

St . . 1 84 0 Joseph River In , a Richard W orth wa s living ea st of the river on or near the land later owned by Roebuck . A David W orth was living w est of the river on or near land which wa s later owned by Je s se 4 9 1 84 0 s Cole . The census doe not indicate where

W illiam W orth wa s living , although church record s 50 show that he wa s in the area at the tim e . ' Som e of Roebuck s evidence wa s based on tradi tions handed down in the fam ily of Christian Parker , an early pioneer who had owned a sawmill near the di sputed site . Parker claim ed to have sawn the board s ' from which Johnny s coffin wa s made . The m aj or foundation of the Roebuck case was the te stimony of

Eben Mile s Chapman , who claim ed to be a grand son of A ndrew Chapm an , brother of Johnny Apple seed . Eben Chapm an 's te stim ony was especially convincing a s he pointed out the location of the W orth cabin , the m graveyard , a spring , and an abandoned road . De sce dant s of Chri stian Parker were contacted and swore statem ent s telling how the story of Johnny 's burial in the eastern plot had been handed down in the fam ily . Som e of them Vi sited the Roebuck farm and pointed out the suppo sed grave site . m Nor were the A rcher supporters idle . De sce dant s of Chri stian Parker w ere contacted and sw ore statement s telling how the story of Johnny 's burial in the A rcher Cem etery had been handed down in the 5 1 family . Re searcher s di scovered and publi shed a 1 903 Davi d A r ch e r letter written in by the grandson of , locating the Worth home on the Leo Road we st of the ' river on Je s s e Cole s land .

26 The controversy raged hotter . The daughter of a man who helped build Johnny 's coffin identified the site on the Roebuck farm where her father had told her Johnny was buried . The son of the man who got paid for building the coffin claimed hi s father told him h e , , nn that personally buried Joh y at the A rcher site . A n old neighbor identified a site on the we st bank as the W orth cabin . Broken pottery and rotted timbers n w ere fou d on the site . Roebuck excavated a site on

hi s farm and found broken pottery and rotted timber s .

A t M r s . M ar nn the height of the controver sy , y A a W e l l sh came forw ard to declare that she was the niece of Johnny Appleseed , that his real name wa s

John Sheffield , and that he was actually buried some where near New Haven . In December 1 934 the Johnny Appleseed Com m i s sion rendered it s final verdict . The A rcher site nf w a s co irm ed . The Roebuck faction appealed to the

A m erican Pom ological Society . Both side s spent the ensuing few years deve1 0 ping evidence and consolidating their po sitions , and , at tim e s the controver sy becam e quite bitter . In 1 4 2 9 , after seven years of study , the Pom ological

Society m ade it s report . It accepted the Roebuck site .

Strangely enough , there was no imm ediate explosion W or l d W ar of reaction . For one thing , II had directed ' people s m inds elsewhere . F or another , new evi dence had come to light , although it apparently had not been taken into account by the Pom ological Society .

In 1 939 , after considerable research , Florence M assachu Wheeler , public librarian of Leom inster , sett s , succeeded in producing a documented lineage ' of John Chapman s ance stor s and relatives . This ' evidence showed that Roebuck s star witne s s , Eben

te stimony . Eben Chapm an had claim ed to be de of nn scended from an A ndrew Chapm an , brother Joh y ,

27 but Mi s s Wheeler 's evidence proved that John had no r oth e r A n dr e of b w , and the bulk the Roebuck te stim ony w a s thus di scredited . What remained w a s m o stly te sti m hear say , and conflicting hear say ony w as readily

i t . n available to counteract A co flicting genealogy , 52 produced by Mr s . Roebuck , which did trace Eben

Chapman back to an A ndrew Chapman , brother of " " John , w as ba sed on fam ily records and m em orie s and wa s given no m ore consideration than it de 3 served 5 The Pom ological Society report was largely ignored . The di scredited Roebuck ver sion has never th e l e ss been printed a s fact in a num ber of books and article s and ha s been used in s om e tellings o of f the folk legend Johnny Apple seed . ' r Neve thele s s , neither Johnny s death nor burial site can be regarded a s conclusively proved . There i s a body of circum stanti al evidence which still sug gest s that the death took place on the ea st side of the river on or near the land which later becam e the r Roebuck farm . The W o ths w ere e stabli shed on the n St ea st ba k of the . Jo seph River , a s w ere the Parker s and other fam ilie s as sociated with the funeral . John him self had several plot s of land along the Maum ee St east of the . Jo seph , but there i s no hard evidence for the suppo sed nur sery on the A rcher farm . The only man whom docum entary evidence connect s with C F l etter the death and burial , Samuel who w a s paid ' Il 11 e d o for C Offl V f . building John s , east the river Mo st important , a statem ent by Richard W orth , recorded only thirteen year s after the event and interpreted in our n light of exi sting k owledge , seem s to indicate that Johnny died on the land east of the river , even though that sam e statement make s it clear that John w as buried in the A rcher graveyard .

In view of all thi s , the m o st definite conclusion w e can draw i s that Johnny i s probably buried some H e where on the m ound in the old A rcher C em etery .

28 i s alm o st certainly n ot buried at the very top under

. F l et hi s m arker Samuel te r said the grave wa s on 54 , . 1 4 the ea st side near the foot In 91 , John A rcher on of located it the side the hill , several feet south 55 w e st of the cre st , even though fourteen year s earlier , he him self had written , at thi s time I doubt that any per son could come within fifty feet of 56 pointing out hi s grave . of In the absence documented fact s , the story tellers have turned Johnny 's death and burial into a beautiful and touching tale of hi s last supper with of the Worth s ; the reading the Bible , e specially th e " Beatitude Ble s sed are the pure in heart ; the ol d m an dying calm ly and at peace with the world ; the neighbors com ing for m iles to hear the funeral s erm on ; the pallbearers chosen from am ong the mo st of prom inent m en in town ; and , course , the apple blo s som s drifting silently down upon the coffin .

Thi s wa s a beautiful ending for the legend , but of it w as alm ost certainly not true . None the men Sw i nn e ud e T h om nam ed as pallbearers , Thom as y , ] g p son , or Henry Rudi sill , ever mentioned the funeral to s H in any writings which have come down u . John . of A rcher , grandson David A rcher , who may have of attended the funeral , listed the name s the families pres ent but did not m ention any pallbearers or give 57 any indication of an elaborate funeral service . Richard Worth whom Per shing and others have nam ed as the well - known Methodi st circuit - rider who preached the funeral sermon , wa s , in fact , a Bapti st elder who had been excluded from his church 5 8 in a factional dispute the year previously . Finally , the gently floating apple blo s som s were only another

nn 1 8 , fabrication . Joh y was buried soon after March

1 84 5 . The first apple blos som s in the F ort Wayne area that year did n ot bloom until April

29 NOTES A ND REF E RENC ES

'

1 e . . Birth r cord of John Chapman City Clerk s

Office , Leom inster , Mas sachusett s . John Chapman Sun of Nathanael and Elizabeth Chapm an Born at Leom inster Septem ber ye 26th 1 774

2 . Located at the fork in South Na shua Street ,

Leom inster , Ma s sachusett s

3 . Robert Price , Johnny Appleseed , Man and t Myth (Bloom ing on : Indiana Univer sity Pre s s ,

4 M assach u . Vital Records of Leom inster ,

nk . 37 30 1 sett s (Worce ster : F ra lin Price , pp , .

5 . G Richard Storrs , Proceedings at the enten nial Celebration of Longm eadow (Hartford ,

223 . p .

' l or e n ce E Wh e e l er oh n Ch a m an s Li n e 6 . F . . J p

of De scent from Edward Chapm an of Ip swich , Ohio A rchaeological and Hi storical "uarterly 4 8

- 2 8 33 .

7 . K . t Letter from Clifford Shipton , Cus odian of the Harvard University A rchive s , to Kenneth i n : Dirlam , quoted Dirlam , John Chapm an (Mansfield

. 1 9 . Richland C ounty Hi storical Society , p

1 8 et a . . Harlan Hatcher , Johnny A pple seed N A Voice in the W ilderne s s (Paterson , . J. : The

50 . Sw edenborg Pre s s , p .

. . S . W . S . n 9 J Schenck and Ran , History

30

2 1 N N . . . Hill , Hi story of Knox County , Ohio

- M t : A . A 1 56 ( . Vernon . Graham , pp . 1 57 . Hill nam e s the early nurserym en in the area and H e give s details of their plantings . barely m entions hn John , give s no details , and m erely says that Jo did , " without doubt , much good .

2 2 nn 25 6 3 . Price , Joh y A pple seed , pp . , .

23 1 1 . John Chapm an E state Paper s , , A llen ' r t n County Clerk s Office , F o Way e .

24 2 . Price , Johnny A pple seed , p . 85 .

25 M cM aster . Israel Ward A ndrew s , on Our M a az m e 4 Early Money , g of We stern History

- 1 4 1 1 50 .

26 3d 25 . . Dirlam , John Chapm an ( p .

27 T h e . Religion of Johnny Apple seed , in 4 - 0 4 1 . Hatcher , Johnny Apple seed , pp .

2 8 hi C i r cu . Society for Printing , Publi s ng and lating the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg , Report 1 4 1 81 7 (Manchester , Eng: Jan . , )

2 9 . . 50 . "uoted Hatcher , Johnny Apple seed , p

30 . William Schlatter , Som e Lett ers of William 1 81 4 1 825 Schlatt er to , typ e script , Cambridge , Ma s s

New Church Theological School Library , letter dated 1 8 1 822 November , .

3 1 2 0 1 820 . Ibid letter dated March , .

32 . Authority for the pasteboard hat and the

32 Of de scription it i s Ro sella Rice , quoted in Henry

, of 1 891 ed Howe Hi storical Collections Ohio , . , 4 85 . p .

33 of . None the writers wh o claim ed to have or ot known seen Johnny mentions the tin p hat . The of H fir st recorded m ention the hat i s in Howe , i stor i

1 84 7 ed n cal Collections of Ohio , . It i s ot known n where How e got hi s i formation .

34 . A Banning Norton , History of Knox County : 1 4 0 (Colum bus Richard Nevins , p . .

- 35 . n 1 8 Price , John y Apple seed , pp . 9 1 99 .

36 at . Entered the F ort Wayne Land Offi ce 2 8 1 934 i of M 2 8 April , (fract onal SE N Sec . . 3 1 4 E 23 1 834 Twp N Range acres ) and May , 3 3 1 5 E (fractional SE Sec . Twp N Range t acre s) . Rober Harri s located a tract book contain ' i ng these entries in the A llen County Auditor s Office before 1 955

37 . W illiam Gline s , Johnny Apple seed by One

8 . Who Knew Him , (Columbus , p .

'

3 8 . John Chapman s Kin Point s Out Grave and

- t 1 0 Cabin , F ort Wayne Journal Gaze te , December ,

1 934 .

35 . . 1 39 . Norton , Knox County , p

. 2 1 8, 4 0 . Price , Johnny Apple seed , p quoting records of the New Church convention .

4 1 . In deeds , land applications , and other B docum ent s John li sted hi s place of re sidence . y the

33 - 1 830s mid , he wa s giving hi s re sidence a s A llen h County , Indiana . Probate proc eedings after hi s deat treated him a s a re sident of A llen County .

4 2 225 . . Price , Johnny A pples eed , p .

4 3 . Entered at the F ort W ayne Land Office 6 4 1 0 83 . March , 1 (East fraction of SE Sec . , 5 E Twp 31 N Range 1 acre s . ) r 1 1 Entered at the F o t Wayne Land Office March , 6 NW 3 24 N 1 83 . (SE fraction of Section , Twp , 5 E 74 04 Range 1 . acre s Jay County . ) n 6 1 1 838 . Entered at the F ort Way e Land Office May , NW 2 2 32 N 1 1 E (SE of Section , Twp , Range 4 0 acre s . )

4 4 6 . . John Chapm an Estate Paper s ,

4 5 4 1 5 . Ibid , .

4 6 n . Joh had lived with the Broom s at Perrys

Ville and later at Mansfield . W hatever hom e he had s eem s to have been w ith hi s sister .

4 7 . Mo st of these w ere based upon the Daw son letter and a serie s of letter s w ritten by John A rcher 00 s in the early 1 9 .

4 8 . Those intere sted in the developm ent of the

Roebuck version should consult the Roebuck Paper s , the evidence , affidavit s , and analyse s compiled by

W esley Roebuck . They are available in typescript and microfilm versions at the A llen County - Fort

Wayne Historical Society .

4 1 4 9 . The se name s appear in the 8 0 F ederal of C ensus A llen County . Sinc e the census wa s arranged

34 in the order in which the census -taker visited the

various familie s , it can be as sumed that families

sheet also lived relatively near each other . In Wash i n t on g Tow nship , the following name s appear in this order : William Gloyd (A ndrew Worth married Sarah 1 1 Gloyd Jan . , David Wor th ; Je s se Cole ; David St oe A rcher . In . J Twp , the following nam es appear : C in order Samuel . F lutter ; David Foland (Daniel

F oland) ; Richard Worth . El sewhere on the sam e

page is the name Chri stian Parker .

50 f . A ter considerable res earch into the rela ti on sh i s p of the W orth family , we have uncovered a few new fact s and have form ed som e tentative con cl usi on s . Our findings and suppositions appear in

the Appendix .

5 1 . of A Sworn affidavit s George . Parker Sep 6 1 0 t em ber , Peter Parker (September , 6 1 34 and William Parker (September , 9 ) obtained by

the Johnny Apple seed Mem orial Commis sion . Now in n the file s of the F ort W ay e Public Library .

52 of . Lizzie Roebuck , Genealogy the Chapman F am ily : Relative s of John Chapman (Johnny Apple n seed) (F ort Way e ,

53 . It als o appear s that some of the Roebuck

affidavit s were altered . The earliest affidavit s pub l i sh ed by the Roebucks claimed that Johnny died at the hom e of a Levi Worth according to the i nformant s . When it becam e clear that n o Levi Wo r th existed in ' the area at the tim e of Johnny s death , Roebuck H w h o accused . B . Es sex , hi s sales m anager had to gathered the affidavit s , of changing them fit hi s

own ideas (see the Roebuck Papers ) , and relieved

35 n — E s sex of hi s i form ation gathering duties . The John ny A pple seed Mem orial Com m is sion al so obtained an affidavit from Theodore A shley , brother of Sarah ' nf A nne Doctor , one of Roebuck s early i orm ant s . A shley sw ore that he wa s pre sent when hi s si ster 's " statem ent wa s taken and that the statem ent originally s igned wa s changed , added to and m odified and that a number of statem ent s contained therein w ere ' ' ' not made by affiant s (A shley s) si ster . A shley s affidavit i s now in the po s se s sion of the F ort W ayne

Public Library .

' 4 t w 5 . "uoted in Daw son s le ter to the F ort ayne 2 1 23 1 87 1 Sentinel , Oct ober and , .

55 . Letter from Leonard Brandt to Cliff Milnor ,

- Line s and A ngle s , F ort W ayne Journal Gazette , 1 1 64 - November 9 , 9 . Brandt wa s the Journal Gazette photographer who photographed John A rcher in 1 91 4 when the latter vi sited the Archer graveyard for the purpo se of locating the grave site . Brandt di stinctly rem em bered the site John A rcher pointed out as " being several feet from the crest .

56 oh n H O P . Letter from J . A rcher to . . Morgan ,

4 1 900 A . . October , , in J Baughman , Hi story of Rich 21 7 land County , Ohio (Chicago : Clarke , p . .

57 . Ibid .

5 8 B . Fir st Bapti st Church , Record s Book , 1 20 1 84 4 Entry under date A pri , , F ort W ayne Public

Library .

5 1 7 9 . Rapin Andrew s , Diary , Ent ry for A pril , 1 84 5 n . Manuscript Collection , Indiana Division , I diana r State Libra y .

36 APPENDI"

Where did Johnny Appleseed die"

Where i s he buried"

A ny attempt to locate John Chapman 's death and burial site s through deductive proces ses must proceed from an inve stigation of the m ember s of the Worth fam ily , to determine their nam es and places of resi dence . Mo st r e searcher s have not recognized that there were several adult male Worths living in A l l e n C ounty

1 84 5 . in W e identified at least fifteen Worths , all or related by birth m arriage , known to have re sided

1 84 5 . At tw o in the area before least , probably three , of and perhap s even four were married , heads house hold s by the tim e that Johnny Appleseed died at on e of their hom e s . The problem i s som ewhat complicated o by the fact that tw of the m en bore the same name , of Richard . F ollowing i s a list the W orths , with birth and death date s where known

- 84 5 0 . 1 t b . 1 7 80 1 7 9 Richard W or h , Sr . d ]une ,

1 7 86 d . 1 86 9 b . E lizabeth Worth , Sr . 1 5 1 M a 1 2 1 808 . 1 8 David W orth b . y , d ]une , 1 81 7 Mahala W orth b . 1 81 1 W illiam Worth b . will dated 24 1 866 Feb . , 1 896 1 2 1 81 4 d . Se t . 6 , A ndrew W orth b . ]uly , p 1 91 7 d . 22 b . 26 1 824 . , Sarah (Gloyd) Worth . Sept , Sept 1 820 John Worth b .

37 * t r . b . 1 822 ( 1 1 864 Richard W or h , J . Early b 1 831 an 20 1 Nancy W orth . d J . , 893 826 E lizabeth (Worth) Noah b . 1 Jam e s W orth Hanna W orth Agne s (Worth) Welch Polly W orth

We found no m ention of other W or th nam e s 1 84 5 1 850 prior to . The census list s several m ore W orths who are identifiable a s m inor children of one 24 of the above . It also li st s a Mary Worth , age , and 4 an Ellen W orth , age , living in the household of John DeH ave n and Rebecca ( ) W orth . John and Rebecca w ere m arried only two m onths before the census was ' taken , so Ellen m ust be the child of Mary . Ellen s

father i s not know n . It is po s sible that Mary wa s - i n - another W orth si ster or sister law , w idowed , ' divorced , or de serted by Ellen s father . The family relationship s am ong the various

W orths have never been m ade clear , but we have form ed som e conclusions ba sed on evidence um t covered while preparing hi s pamphlet . Thi s new

evidence ha s com e from census returns , wills , deed

regi ster s , probate records , and the record books of t t r num the F irs Bapti s Chu ch of Fort Wayne , which bered m any of the W orths am ong it s early m ember h s ip . F or the first tim e , it i s now po s sible to draw

' Th e 1 850 censu s li st s Ri chard s age a s 2 8 i i ro le i rth d te som e t im e m 1 822 In the g v ng a p bab b a . ' 1 860 ce su s Ri ch rd s e I S i ve s 4 0 r e ui r m n , a ag g n a , q g i rth d te i 2 the l tter fi ure i s true 1 8 0 . If a b a n a g , Ri ch rd m a h ve ee tw m to oh ut m ore a y a b n a J n , b , ro l Ri ch rd S im l rou ded off h l S e i the p bab y , a p y n ag n

1 860 e um er t i o com m o r cti c e t the ti m e . n a n , a n p a a

38

conclusions about the death and burial of Johnny

A pple seed , ba sed on a relatively large body of factual inform ation about the people report ed to have been

m ost clo sely involved .

Richard W orth , Sr . was the patriarch of the H e clan . wa s the father of m o st , if not all , of the

W orths in the above li st . Jam e s W orth wa s either

the brother or one of the elder sons of Richard , Sr . Jam e s W orth wa s not involved in the Johnny Apple seed ft story , having le the F ort W ayne area several year s

before Johnny died . Hi s account with the trading firm of Ham ilton and Taber wa s clos ed in 1 837 w ith th e " H e 4 notation , run off . owed a total of $ 9 . 39 .

r . David , W illiam , A ndrew , John , Richard , J , r E lizabeth , J Agne s , Hanna , and Polly w ere prob

ably the children of Richard , Sr . Because of the

uncertainty about the relationship betw een Richard , Sr . an d am e sW or th J , there i s some chanc e , but absolutely

no evidence , that one or m ore of the se could have or been the children , wife , of Jame s W orth who stayed on w ith Richard after Jam e s left the F ort

W ayne area . W e have determ ined the relationships am o ng

som e of the W orths on our li st . Mahala w as Mr s . 1 850 David W orth , according to the census of Whitley

County , Indiana . The date of the m arriage i s not

known , but they had a son , Jam e s Loui s W orth , born

1 0 1 836 . July , A ndrew W orth m arried a Sarah Gloyd

1 1 1 84 3 . "t on January , A Gloyd fam ily lived ne door 1 84 0 to David W orth at the tim e of the census . Nancy of r W orth w a s the wife Richard , J . A gain the date of the m arriage i s not known so it i s po s sible that of 1 84 5 Nancy wa s a m ember the fam ily in , and she

i s li sted accordingly . Richard and Nancy had a son ,

David Lewi s Wo rth , born at Lorane , Indiana on Janu

1 3 1 84 9 . ary , John and W illiam W orth were both 1 84 5 DeH a en m arried after . John m arried Rebecca v

4 0 27 1 850 F or t W a n e on March , in y . The only marriage record which ha s been found for William Worth show s

on that he m arried Sarah Baxter September 1 7 , 1 858 in De Kal b County with Richard Worth officiating as

. A t Justice of the Peace the tim e , William was forty seven year s old , but there is no evidence that he had

. El i zab eth W or h been married previously t r . , J married Lyell Noah and wa s living in W ash l ngt on Township at of 1 850 the tim e the census . A lthough we have um

, i covered no direct proof we believe that El zabeth , Sr . of i wa s the wife R chard , Sr . Elizabeth was the only female Worth known to have been of approximately the sam e age a s Richard . A fter Richard died and the other W orth m en moved away , Elizabeth stayed on 1 86 9 th until her death in , living W l Lyell and Elizabeth Noah who would then have been her daughter and son i n - law . Som e confusion doe s st i ll exi st regarding the

relationship am ong Richard , Sr David , William ,

r . i and Richard , J Som e account s suggest that R chard ,

Sr William , and David were brothers . A lso , Robert

Price , in hi s biography , Johnny Appleseed , Man and t r son of My h , identifie s Richard , J . a s the William n W orth . W e believe that the co fusion ha s stemm ed from tw o sources : The general lack of i nformation a s to the num ber of Worth s pre sent in the area ; and B of a statem ent by Thom a s . Helm , author an early and usually quite accurate history of A llen County that , am ong the founder s of the First Bapti st Church " w ere Richard Worth and hi s brother s David and " W illiam and their wive s . The church records make it clear that Richard , Sr . wa s a founding member

i r . along w ith David and Will am , but that Richard , J w a s adm itted to m embership by bapti sm several days later .

Neverthele s s , we have learned that William , of r . David , Richard , J , A ndrew , and John were the

4 1 second -generation Worth s in the area and w e believe that they w ere all brothers , the sons of Richard , Sr . W e know that their age s are di stributed as w e m ight - Ri expect in a father son relationship . chard , Sr . wa s 1 80 - 1 7 0 born during the decade 7 9 . Thus he wa s no younger than eighteen when David was born in 1 808 -tw o r and no older than forty when Richard , J . w as 22 1 8 . B born in y contra st , David , the oldest of the " - second generation w as only fourteen when Richard ,

r . . r J , the younge st , wa s born Obviously , Richard , J . can only have been the son of Richard , Sr . Thi s i s the relationship which w ill prove to be of prime i m portance in determ ining in who se hom e John Chapm an died . There i s other evidence which suppor t s our On 24 conclusions about thi s relationship . February , 1 866 De Kal b , in Butler , C ounty , W illiam W orth wrote

. d ocum e nt Wi l l i am hi s last will and te stam ent In thi s , bequeathed to David Lew i s W orth , the son and heir of " r Richard , J . who had died tw o year s earlier , all m y right , title , and intere st in and to the us e of the patent shingle m achine which I bought of my brother Richard in the county of Whitley , in the state of Indiana . r - - on Richard , J . lived in Whitley County , off and , for m any year s ; w e could find no evidence that Richard , Sr . ever even vi sited the county . ' W illiam W orth s te stam ent provide s other , rather stanti al i r circum , evidence that he and R chard , J . w ere brother s . Having given hi s right s to the shingle m achine to David Lewi s , William left all the re st of "

m . his worldly good s to y beloved sister , Mrs Nancy r W orth . Nancy Worth wa s the widow of Richard , J . ' h l l a - h - and t u sW i i m s sister i law . If William had been the brother of Richard , Sr . , Nancy would have been hi s niece .

4 2 The Worth s cam e to Fort Wayne from Ohio in 1 836 or 1 837 . Their records in the account books of Ham ilton and Taber suggest that they were loggers

supplying tim ber for the sawm ill s in the county , i n cluding perhap s the one Operated by Chri stian Parker .

site s or perhaps to live a s s quatters on the property

of som e absentee landowner . Only one parcel of land i n A l l en Coun ty i s known of to have been owned by one the Worths . On Octo

3 1 84 0 - ber , , A ndrew Worth bought a 4 0 acre plot near

of St . ose h for 8 0 . 00 On the center ] p Township $ . Octo 1 2 to ber , he re sold it John Worth for that same

. 2 amount John held it until November 1 , 1 84 6 when G or i he sold it to a John g . Thus it can be shown that at least one m em ber of the W orth fam ily group owned land at the tim e John Chapman died - and ea st of the

St n o - river in . Jo seph Township les s but this land w as located w ell back from the river and n o on e has yet sugge sted that Johnny Appleseed died or was

buried on thi s particular plot . A t 1 84 0 Ri the tim e the census was taken , a chard

W orth , alm o st certainly Richard , Sr . , wa s living St St ea st of the . Jo seph River , in . Jo seph Township , on or near the land which later became the Roebuck

farm . David Worth w as living we st of the river in W a shingt on T ow n ship on or near the land which was

later owned by Je s se Cole . Judging from the census data and from the very specific locations established

by Daw son , John Archer , and W esley Roebuck and ou - confirm ed by site digging , the two Worth cabins n o w ere directly acro s s the river from each other , m ore than one - quarter to on e -half mile apart and 1 84 0 perhap s even w ithin shouting distance . The census doe s not li st any other Worths a s head s of to for r households , m aking it impo s sible tell ce tain

4 3 where William w as living at the time . It i s difficult to reconcile the returns of the 1 84 0 census with the know n fact s about the Worth family . The 1 84 0 census li sted only the head of the household by nam e . Member s of the household w ere indicated only by noting the number of per sons who fell into various categorie s of age and sex . By m atching date s and known relationships with the census data , w e can dete rmine that the David W orth household wa s com of 23 po sed David (age Mahala , hi s wife (age ) u 4 tw o yo ng sons , Jam e s Louis (age ) and another who se nam e i s unknow n ; and on e other m an (age 20 r W illiam , A ndrew , John , and po s sibly Richard , J . could all fit the se characteri stic s .

In the Richard Worth hous ehold , it i s much i m ore difficult t o a s s gn nam e s to the check marks . The household consi sted of Richard (age 50 to 6 0) Elizabeth (age tw o fem ale s (age 1 0 to one of whom should have been Elizabeth another female (age 1 5 to and three m ale s (age 30 to f Thi s la st figure seem s suspect . It i s , a ter all , an of unlikely di stribution age s in any fam ily . It doe s C s eem m ore reasonable to a s sum e that W illiam . - on 2 th Scott , the census taker , m aking an entry the 9 line of a long page of figure s , simply mi scalculated by one colum n and that the correct entry should 20 - 30 3 read , Male s age , . Thi s interpretation w ould com e much clo s er to fitting the actual age s of the W orth fam ily m em bers know n to have been in the area at the tim e . The m o st useful single piece of i nform ation w e uncovered in our research wa s found in the record books of the F ir st Bapti st Church . Richard Worth , Sr . 1 84 5 died in June , . Obviously then , the Richard Worth who filed a claim against John 's e state for la st 1 sickne s s , funeral , and coffin expense s on A ugust 9, ' 1 84 5 1 85 8 n and who , in , told the particulars of John y s

4 4 M cG aw r death to the Reverend Thoma s wa s Richard , J .

If we are to make som e definite statem ent pin pointing the death and burial site s of John Chapman , w e must ba se that statem ent on evidence of the highe st po s sible quality . In evaluating any piece of : i evidence , w e must consider three factor s Opportun ty , m otive , and consi stency . Did the informant have to n " close , per sonal acce s s the i form ation Did he stand to receive any p er son al gai n from hi s te stim ony" Doe s the evidence given rem ain consi stent with it self and with other fact s which can be docum ented inde " pendently " None of the te stim onie s usually quoted i s totally consi stent with the known fact s in every detail .

Neverthele s s , the be st evidence available w ould to r appear be the statem ent which Richard Worth , J . 1 85 8 m ade in in Butler , Indiana , then called Norristown . n e e d N Richard was i ter V1 w by his friend Thoma s . ' M cG aw on behalf of Reverend Jam e s F M G aw who w a s writing a novel in which Johnny Apple seed wa s to ' M a . G play a minor role . The Rev w elaborated upon and greatly rom anticized the details fur ni shed to him t and , indeed , alm o st singlehandedly invented the my h ' of Johnny s tender , touching deathbed scene . The original letter from Jam e s M c G aw w as publi shed in

1 873 . the Mansfield Ohio Liberal in Augu st , Other to t e stim oni e s comm only referred are John W . ' Daw son s letter to the F o r t Wayn e Sentinel published

8 H . in 1 71 ; several letter s written by John A rcher , grand son of David A rcher who ow ned the A rcher graveyard , which were publi shed at various time s around 1 900 ; and the oral and written te stim onie s of ' n a number of We sley Roebuck s i formant s , recorded 20 to 1 4 2 in the period from 1 9 9 . A ll other account s

4 5 of John 's death and burial appear to be derived from on e or more of the above . ' ' M cG aw s report of Richard Worth s statement in 1 85 8 contains versions of several comm on A pple seed storie s plu s one or tw o for which it seem s to be the original source . In only one short paragraph doe s M cG aw quote Richard Worth directly but that paragraph directly addre s se s both que stions of where M c G aw Johnny died and where he wa s buried . wrote , ' ' W e M r buried him , said . W orth , respectably in ' tw o David A rcher s graveyard , and one half m ile s ' north of F ort W ayne , he having died at my father s house , which to him wa s a comfortable and w elcom e hom e in hi s old age .

- In chronological order , the second earlie st evidence i s contained in the Daw son letter of October , 1 87 1 . Daw son wrote hi s letter in re sponse to an article about Johnny A pple seed in Harper 's New

Monthly Magazine . Daw son corrected factual errors ' in the Harper s account , related several storie s of ' or t John s activitie s in and around F W ayne , and stated , " 1 1 84 5 Johnny Apple seed died on the lth of March , , at St the house of William W orth , in . Joseph Township , u n A llen Co nty , Indiana , on the la d now owned by Jes s e H e C ole , on the F eeder Canal . wa s buried a rea son able tim e thereafter in a beautiful natural m ound at Davi d A r ch e r the fam ily burying ground set apart by . 1 00 A round 9 , when intere st in Johnny Apple seed H began to be rekindled , John . A rcher wrote several letter s to various persons and new spaper s setting forth hi s recollections of John . Hi s statem ent mo st often quoted wa s included in a letter written to the

- 22 1 03 . H e F ort Wayne Journal Gazette on March , 9 " H e 57 wrote , died year s ago at the home of David and William W ort h a few rod s northeast of the pre sent hom e of Edward Pfeiffer , on the Leo Road , three m ile s north of Fort Wayne , and wa s laid to re st in

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' grandfather s private burying ground s . The mo st recent te stim onies are tho se s olicited

by Wesley Roebuck . The se w ere based on stories handed down am ong som e of the early fam ilie s of

St . Jo seph Township , som e of which had been filtered through three generations before Roebuck recorded nf them . Roebuck wa s able to locate som e i orm ant s who were alive at the tim e Johnny was buried and who claim ed to have attended the funeral or vi sited n the grave site . The various te stim o ie s elicited by

Roebuck differed som ewhat , a s might be expected , but did enable Roebuck to locate the rem ains of a cabin and an apparent burying place at the site s indi a e n c t d by som e of the i f orm ant s .

In evaluating the te st im onie s , it i s ea sie st to

dispo se of the Roebuck evidence . It cannot be proved that any of the Roebuck w itne s se s wa s pre sent at the ' death or burial ; in fact , Roebuck s principal witne s s , Eben Mile s Chapman who even claim ed to be a grand

nephew of Johnny , was not related to John at all . But m uch m ore dam aging wa s the internal inconsistency

of the Roebuck evidence . Early in hi s inve stigations , Roebuck att empted to show that John died at the hom e r of a Hiram W o th . When thi s proved impo s sible , he t fixed on the nam e Levi Wor h and finally , a s m ore

fact s becam e clear , settled on Richard . Roebuck show ed a certain enthusiastic but unc ritical accep tance of evidence and there i s evidence to show that

Roebuck , or hi s re searchers , w ould , on occa sion , change or alter evidence to improve it s coincidence

w ith their theorie s . The be st that can be said for the Roebuck inve stigation i s that it uncovered a few * really important docum entable fact s ; it provided the

Roebuck and h l s re s earchers should be credited w 1 th d l sc over m the C h m e st te er s the g ap an a pap ,

4 8 impetus for a general inve stigation which brought to light a good many m ore documentable fact s ; and it

probably located w ithin som e fairly exact boundarie s ,

the cabin in which Richard Worth , Sr . wa s living at 1 84 0 the tim e of the census . ' John Archer s te stim ony i s m ore difficult to H e ' evaluate . wa s wrong about the date of John s b death ; ut so wa s every other w itne s s , bar none . The striking feature s of hi s te stimony ar e the preci se location of the home of David and W illiam W orth and hi s insi stence that John wa s buried in the A rcher '

. graveyard If John A rcher s te stim ony can be faulted , it would have to be on ground s of his acces s to the nl l event s . A rcher wa s o y eight years o d when Johnny H e died . did not set down hi s recollections until fifty - six ye ar s later and he may have been influenced somewhat by other stories and m em ories in the

m eantim e . ' John Daw son s te stim ony is the m o st compre h en si e t v and the mo s widely quoted . It i s also ea sily nf the m o st co using and the m o st prone to error .

Daw son had obviously done som e re search , talked Fl ette r to Samuel , and checked the Chapman e state

paper s . Hi s re search must have been hurried ; hi s letter appeared in the F ort Wayne Sentinel on Octo ber 2 1 and 23 in re sponse to an article in the No '

em er . v b is sue of Harper s Throughout hi s account , Daw son include s m any minute details which m ake hi s te stimony believable ; but his work i s slip shod , with inexplicable m i stake s amongst the m ost useful mate u s rials . F or instance , Daw son give s our mo st ' detailed location for Johnny s often - m entioned but

u ch s e of l d b oh d A drew W orth d w 1 th p r a an y J n an n , an St recordi ng m uch of the local tradit i ons of . Jo seph T ow n sh 1 p - St ose h never docum ented nur sery on the . ] p River , the nur sery he wa s suppo sedly hurrying to save when he w a s overcom e by his fatal illne s s . Daw s on located " the nur sery at the northw e st corner of the land of on St David A rcher the . Jo seph Road . The location St noted w ould have been on the Leo Road . The J o seph ' Road ran east of the river , pa st Richard Worth s house . Sim ilarly Daw s on m i sreported the date of 1 1 1 84 5 death a s March , with such authority that it wa s sixty years before the true date wa s di scovered .

F or many of hi s details and per sonal recollections ,

Daw son i s the only authority , but som e of hi s account s have since been independently docum ented . Daw s on him self wa s a local hi storian and new spaper pub li sher and wa s s eriously trying to determ ine the fact s about Johnny Apple seed . Daw son claim ed for him self ' n o special know ledge about John s death ; indeed he specifically credited Sam uel F l etter a s the source of much of the information he report ed .

r r . r e The te stim ony of Richard Wo th , J , as M c G aw port ed by Jam e s , i s the least c omplete of the four ; yet it contains seven word s , m entioned only in t pas sing , which give the s ronge st po s sible evidence for M c a it s authenticity . Throughout much of the G w to letter , it i s impo s sible determine exactly which detail s Richard relat ed to M c G aw and which are the " " re sult s of the much inquiry to which M c G aw alluded in hi s introductory paragraph . In the pa s sage relating ' M c G aw to John s burial how ever , quoted Richard

W orth directly and it i s thi s direct quote , recorded f only thirteen year s a ter the event , that form s the ba si s for our conclusions about the site s of John 's death and burial . Richard W orth stated that John was buried in the A rcher graveyard and then added , he ' y i ha ng died at my father s house . W orth m ight have

h e forgotten many of the detail s in thirteen year s ; , like every other w itne s s , m ight have mi srem embered

50 the date ; but it doe s not seem likely that he w ould have forgotten the nam e of the m em ber of hi s ow n family in who se house Johnny Apple seed died .

Having considered all of the preceding evidence , w e can state in conclusion that John Chapm an , Johnny n Apple seed , died at the hom e of Richard Worth , Se ior and that h e was buried som ew here in the A rcher burial ground .

W e voice thi s conclusion fully realizing the fact , s indeed w e wi sh pecifically to point out that , while " d there e ist s no definite proof as yet , the prepon er ance of the evidenc e and the only docum entary evidence b s availa le indicate that Richard Worth , Sr . lived on St as n . s the e t ba k of the Jo eph River , on or near the land which later becam e the

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